Ned Kelly's family wants to reclaim remains of infamous Australian bushranger (Australia)

The family of Ned Kelly, the ruthless Australian outlaw, have asked for DNA tests to be performed on remains exhumed at a prison where he was buried as they seek to reclaim his body.

He is remembered as Australia’s own Robin Hood, a ruthless outlaw who stood up for the impoverished and died for his cause.

But Ned Kelly, who was hanged for his crimes almost 130 years ago, may win one final victory against authority.

Descendants of the notorious bushranger called on the Victorian state government to release his remains so that he can be laid to rest with his deceased relatives and given “a proper burial".

Kelly was executed in 1880, aged 25, after evading police troopers for two years. Charged with shooting dead three policemen, he was buried without ceremony at Old Melbourne Gaol. Documents show his remains, and those of 32 other executed prisoners, were later moved and reburied at Pentridge Prison in 1929.

Archaeological digs at Pentridge last year unearthed unmarked coffins containing the remains of the executed prisoners believed to contain Kelly’s decomposed body.

The Australian government’s own cultural website describes Kelly as “one of Australia’s greatest folk heroes”.